


One Call Away

by gray_autumn_sky



Series: Set in 4B [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 17:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15645318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gray_autumn_sky/pseuds/gray_autumn_sky
Summary: Set in 4B while Robin was in NY.A few weeks after Robin leaves with Roland and Marian, Regina gets a phone call in the middle of the night.





	One Call Away

Regina’s hand reaches absently toward her nightstand, a loud groan escaping her as she tries to find her phone. Finally, her fingers touch the screen and wrap around it, dragging it it off the nightstand, wanting nothing more than to shut it up.

And then, she spots the New York area code.

She blinks a couple of times as her eyes adjust, and as they do, a knot almost immediately forms in her stomach. A feeling of loss and dread wash over her as she stares down at the number illuminated on the screen, and for a split second she considers just not answering it.

Her hand begins to tremble as she thinks of him and she aches just to hear his voice again.

Tears well up in her eyes as she stares down at the number on the screen, the phone continuing to vibrate in her hand, and all she can think of is everything that she was never able to tell him. Drawing in a shaky breath, she blinks away her tears, her thoughts linger to the last time she saw him, teary-eyed and heartbroken as he crossed over the townline after saying what was supposed to be a final goodbye–and then, all of the sudden, it connects that Robin may actually calling her and if he’s calling her at three in the morning, there has to be a reason.

Her heart beats faster, pounding in her chest, and her lungs tighten, making it difficult for her to breathe–and suddenly, she feels just as she did when they’d said those painful goodbyes, and wants nothing more than to hear his voice one more time.

She swallows hard as she swipes her finger over the screen, ignoring all the reasons she shouldn’t give herself this moment–and as soon as she does, he says her name and tears rush to her eyes. His voice is soft–though words are a little slurred, a clear sign that he’s been drinking–and it’s an odd sort of comfort she feels.

Drawing in a breath, she rubs her hands over her eyes, pushing away her tears. “You’re not supposed to do this, you know,” she tells him, almost laughing. “You’re not supposed to call me.”

“But I had no choice,” he says. “I need help, and you’re the only one who can help me–you’re the only one who’d believe me.”

“Why?” she asks, her heartbeat picking up again. “What happened?”

“I got arrested!”

“Arrested,” she repeats. “You’re… you’re calling me from jail?”

“Well, they said I got a call–”

“Robin,” she cuts in, her voice curt as she rubs at her brow. “You’re supposed to call someone who can actually help you.”

“You can help.”

“No, Robin, I’m… I’m almost eight hours away. I can’t help you now.”

“Details,” he scoffs–and though she shouldn’t, she laughs, and when she does, it makes her miss him all the more.

“No, they mean someone who can… post bail and take you home and–” she sighs, and it feels like a punch to the gut. “You should’ve called Marian.”

“No, you,” he says, his voice adamant. “It’s you I want. Always.”

Her eyes press close and tears well up, pushing out from the sides–and more than anything, she wants to be able to help him. She wants to get in her car and drive all the way to New York just so she can be the one to help him, just so that she can see him again. But she knows that’d be a slippery slope. She’d say something that she couldn’t take back or he’d say something that she couldn’t forget–and they’d make an already difficult situation more difficult.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! I did absolutely nothing. I was minding my own business.”

“Robin, you were arrested. You had to have done something.”

“I don’t understand this place and all it’s bloody rules,” he barks–a bit louder as though to make a point to someone hovering nearby. “I… just… I don’t feel like me here.”

“Robin–”

“So, I pitched a tent in the woods and built up a fire–”

“The woods? You’re in New York, where–” She stops, grimacing. “Robin, you can’t camp in Central Park. It’s… a park, not a commune.”

“I’ve been doing it for weeks. I don’t see why it’s suddenly a problem now.”

“They probably didn’t notice you were there,” she sighs, thinking of his camp in the woods in Storybrooke, and how it’d slowly grown from a couple of tents and a fire pit to a little village for him and his men. “Someone probably spotted you or–” She stops. “Did you say weeks?”

“I did.”

“Robin, you’ve been in New York for a month.”

“I can’t stay here. I can’t… I just…” He sighs as his words fail him, and she can feel him struggling. “Regina, this was all a mistake and I don’t know how to fix it.” Robin’s voice catches in his throat and it makes her chest ache. “I need your help. Please. I don’t think I can do this.”

“You have to–for Roland, and for Marian.”

“She’s not Marian.”

“What?”

“I… I don’t know, I just… things feel wrong. She’s not… she’s not like she was.”

“It’ll take time.”

“No, Regina. I’ve tried. It’s–”

“It sounds like you’ve been squatting in the woods, not trying to make a home with your wife and son.” Robin falls silent, and she hears a little sigh escape him–and she can tell that he’s on the verge of tears. “So, does, um… does Marian know about this? How does she feel about you… camping in Central Park?”

“She, uh… she doesn’t know.”

“How is that possible? Where does she think you’ve been going all these weeks?”

“I told her I have a job, that I work nights and… and so I tuck Roland into bed and wait til he’s asleep and.., then I go to work.” He pauses and sighs again. “I come back just before he wakes up.”

“Doesn’t she realize a paycheck isn’t coming in?”

“I, uh… I’ve found a remedy for that.”

A little grin tugs up at the corner of her mouth, as she pictures him pick-pocketing and pawning off his finds–and while that shouldn’t be charming, it is.

“You need to go home, Robin.”

“I can’t. That apartment isn’t home.”

“But Marian and Roland are.”

“Roland, sure, but–”

“And Marian.”

“Regina, something’s off. It’s wrong. It’s… I can’t explain it, but I can feel it.” She knows what’s wrong, and it has nothing to do with Marian and everything to do with her. “Regina, please–”

“I can’t, Robin,” she says, blinking back her tears. “I can’t help.”

“Regina–”

“You need to forget about me.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Because you haven’t tried.”

“No–”

“Robin, we agreed to this.”

“I didn’t know what I was agreeing to at the time,” he tells her, his voice desperate. “I didn’t know how I’d feel, Regina, or how much I’d miss you.”

“You shouldn’t–”

“But I do.”

“I can’t help you, Robin. I–”

“I thought you loved me.”

Tears flood her eyes as her chest tightens. “I do,” tells him, her voice barely audible as she presses her eyes closed and feels her tears trailing down her cheeks. “And that’s why I have to hang up.”

She doesn’t wait for him to reply before ending the call and when she does, she feels a rush of emotion. Her chest aches as she drops her phone down into her lap–and for awhile, all she can do is cry. And then, when she’s composed herself enough, she calls the police station in New York and posts his bail because the only thing worse than being apart from him is feeling like she’s failed him.


End file.
